<div>Sonny Lewis has spent nearly 50 years coaching volleyball in northwest Ohio, first at Springfield High School and then at Owens Community College. During that time, Lewis has sat through exactly one job interview.When Lewis left the high school ranks, the Owens volleyball coach had just retired. He applied for the job and had the first job interview of his life. Needless to say, he must have done pretty well during the interview.“They hired me the next day,” Lewis said.Now in his 24th season leading the Express program, Lewis recently won the 800th game of his college coaching career. Add those wins to the 373 wins coaching high school, and Lewis has been on the winning side more than 1,100 times.“I’ve been here a long time, so that gets a lot of that in,” Lewis said. “My associate head coach, Denny Caldwell, has done a great job of recruiting people in the area. They want to come here and play, and since they see we do well, that gets us some good attraction.”At press time, this season, the Express are 19-9 overall after splitting two matches with Southwestern Michigan (3-0 win) and Lake Michigan College (3-2 loss).Lewis isn’t the only one to reach a career milestone for the Express this year. Sophomore libero Lilly White (Monroeville H.S.) went over 1,000 digs this season, and sophomore setter Michaela Hahn (Fremont St. Joseph H.S.) got the 1,000th assist of her career.“It was definitely something I was aiming for, it’s good to have goals,” White said. “When I saw that I had 600 last year, I thought it was possible (to get 1,000) this season. … I just go out and play, hope for the best.”White ended last week with 541 digs, an average of nearly six per set. Lewis called White the “backbone” of the team.Hahn, who leads the team with 416 assists, to go along with 148 digs, gave credit for her success to the abilities of her teammates.“It shows how well our program works together,” Hahn said. “It wouldn’t be possible without Lilly digging the ball or my hitters putting it away. It shows how good of a school we are at volleyball.”The Express are going for their third straight Ohio Community College Athletic Conference title. They’re currently tied with Lorain County Community College atop the standings at 7-1. They split their two meetings this year, with both schools winning their home matches.To learn more about the Owens volleyball team, visit owensexpress.com/sports/wvball.</div>

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Express volleyball coach, players reach career milestones

Sonny Lewis has spent nearly 50 years coaching volleyball in northwest Ohio, first at Springfield High School and then at Owens Community College. During that time, Lewis has sat through exactly one job interview. When Lewis left the high school ranks, the Owens volleyball coach had just retired. He applied...